WEDNESDAY 9 DECEMBER 1801

King George’s Sound had been chosen as the proper place in which to prepare ourselves for the examination of the south coast of Terra Australis, and I sought to make the best use of the advantages it might furnish.  The first essential requisite was a place of secure shelter, where the masts could be stripped, the rigging and sails put into order, and communication had with the shore without interruption from the elements; but this, from captain Vancouver’s chart and description, I did not expect the outer sound to afford.  The facility of quitting Princess-Royal Harbour, with such a wind as would be favourable for prosecuting the investigation of the coast, induced me so far to prefer it to Oyster Harbour as to make it the first object of examination; and in the morning, after we had sounded round the ship and found her so placed as to require no immediate movement, I went in a boat for the purpose, accompanied by the master and landscape painter; the naturalist and some other gentlemen landing at the same time, to botanise in the vicinity of Bald Head.

(Atlas Plate VII.  View 4.)

Seal Island, where we stopped in passing, is a mass of granite, which is accessible only at its western end, as represented in Mr. Westall’s sketch.  After killing a few seals upon the shore, we ascended the hill to search for the bottle and parchment left by captain Vancouver in 1791;* but could find no vestiges either of it or of the staff or pile of stones; and since there was no appearance of the natives having crossed over from the main, I was led to suspect that a second ship had been here before us.

[* See his Voyage, Vol.  I. Page 40]

At Point Possession, on the south side of the entrance to Princess-Royal Harbour, we had a good view of that extensive piece of water.  Wood seemed not to be abundant near the shores; and therefore a projection two or three miles to the south-west, which was covered with trees, first attracted my notice.  The depth of water in going to it was, however, too little for the ship; nor was there any fresh stream in the neighbourhood.  Some person, but not captain Vancouver, had nevertheless been cutting wood there; for several trees had been felled with axe and saw.  Not far from thence stood a number of bark sheds, like the huts of the natives who live in the forests behind Port Jackson, and forming what might be called a small village; but it had been long deserted.  Going across from the woody point to the north side of the harbour, we there found 3 fathoms within less than half a mile of the shore; and an increasing depth from thence out to the entrance.  The soundings in the entrance were from 5 to 7 fathoms; but the channel was too narrow to admit of getting in without a leading wind and much caution.

THURSDAY 10 DECEMBER 1801